News

Every advance in the dissemination of human knowledge – from the printing press to newspapers, television and the internet – has initially been seen as much as a threat as an opportunity. But few new systems have been greeted with such suspicion as AI, writes Sinead Machin. Largely

Neil Stevenson welcomes the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, but ignores or fails to notice that the Scottish government is proposing a legal services regulator to take control of the entire legal profession. That would include entry to it, standards of education, discipline within and

Scottish government proposals to regulate the legal profession are a threat to lawyers and judges, the senior judiciary has unanimously warned. In its response to a call for views on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, the College of Justice said that the government proposes to:

Addleshaw Goddard has recorded an 18 per cent increase in both revenue and profit to £443 million and £184 million respectively. The firm said strong global performance contributed to its revenue growth. While its UK income grew by 14 per cent in the year ending 30 April 2023, income gro

True crime fans in for a treat as the detective who brought Peter Tobin to justice hosts a stage show in Dundee next month.

Stuart McWilliams discusses the upcoming increases in UK visa fees, the impact on applicants and employers, and suggests strategies to minimise the financial burden of these changes. They say the only certain things in life are death and taxes, but most immigration lawyers will tell you that rising

Litter-picking volunteers unexpectedly discovered a package containing a kilogram of cocaine worth up to £100,000 while cleaning a Cornwall beach. The wrapped package was found by volunteer beach cleaners taking part in an event organised by the 2 Minute Foundation last weekend.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is now in a position to start engaging with solicitor firms who wish to use the application programme interface (API) service for simple procedure claims. The service allows for bulk submissions of claims and would benefit those that do high volume simple pr

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has announced plans to review the enforcement and investigative tools available to the legal services regulators, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could include increasing financial penalties available to regulators, as well as enabling regulat

Collected property taxes in Scotland have risen almost 50 per cent in the past two years, according to recent analysis. Property firm DJ Alexander Ltd reports that revenues from the Scottish government’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in June 2023 stood at £61.7 million from 8

The Scottish Law Agents’ Society has responded to Holyrood's consultation on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill. A condensed version of the response is reproduced below. We are deeply uneasy about why the Scottish government feels that it is desirable, appropriate or necessary to

The City of Edinburgh Council has decided not to appeal a Court of Session ruling that found its short-term lets (STL) licensing policy to be unlawful.

The Scottish government has launched a consultation on draft regulations transferring certain appeal functions of the Transport Tribunal and allocating new appeal functions relating to bus services improvement partnerships to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. The consultation on draft regulations per

The Flexible Working Bill will likely see more employees become aware of the right to make flexible working requests and the volume of these requests will increase, Laura Salmond suggests. On 29 July 2023, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent. These amendments

A new BBC podcast series uncovers what really happened when the Leonardo da Vinci painting, The Madonna of the Yarnwinder, was spectacularly taken from Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway in 2003. The Missing Madonna, which is available from 25 August on BBC Sounds, marks the 20th anniversary